Wind-inducing device for self-playing musical instruments.



L. B. DOMAN.

WIND INDUCING DEVICE FOR SELF PLAYING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION mio FEB.14. |916.

Patented Feb. 11,1919.

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L. B. DOMAN.

WIND INDIICING DEI/ICE EUR SEEE PLAYING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I4, 1916.

Patented Feb. 11, 19I9.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEWIS B. DOMAN, 0F EAST SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, ASSIGrNOR TO THE AMPI-IION PIANO PLAYER COMPANY, 0F SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

WIND-INDUCING DEVICE FOR SELF-PLAYING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 11, 1919.

Application led February 14, 1916. Serial No. 78,175.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, Lnwis B. DOMAN, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of East Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Wind- Inducing Devices for Self -Playing Musical Instruments, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in wind-inducing devices for selfplaying musical instruments involving the use of a wind chest, one or more pumping bellows and a driving motor therefor connected and assembled in a relatively small compact space and adapted to be installed as a unit within the case of the instrument for operating the pneumatic sound-producing action, the winding and rewinding rollers for the note sheet and other moving parts of the player which it may be desired to control by air tension produced by the pumping bellows.

In other words, thisdevice constitutes the power plant for the operation and control of practically all of the automatically moving parts of the entire instrument, and by reason of this fact is liable to be more or less noisy in operation, some times to such an extent as to interfere with the musical tones, particularly after the instrument has been in use for a greater or less period of time.

The main object, therefore, of my present invention is to reduce this noise to a minimum or to an inappreoiable degree.

Another obj ect is to provide means whereby the motor and pumping bellows together with the wind chest may be easily and quickly installed or removed from the front of the instrument without displacing the rear supports therefor.

Other objects anduses relating to specific parts of the apparatus will be brought out in the following description.

In the drawings- Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved wind-inducing device.

Fig. 2 is a top plan of the same.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the same device taken on line 3 3, Fig. 2, omitting the motor which is shown in dotted lines.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are a horizontal sectional view and vertical sectional views taken, respectively, on lines L1 4, 5 5 and 6 6, Fig. l.

As illustrated, this wind-inducing device comprises a wind-chest 1 a plurality of, in this instance four, pumping bellows 2- arranged in pairs and mounted on opposite sides of the wind chest 1 an electric motor 3 and suitable means for transmitting motion from the motor to the several bellows.

This power-transmitting means preferably consists of a crank shaft 4.- journaled in suitable brackets or standards 5 which are supported upon the upper edge of the wind chest 1 as shown more clearly in Fig. 3, the crank arms of the shaft 4- being connected by pitmen 6 to arms 7 on the movable sides of their respective bellows Q for positively operating the movable sides of the bellows in both directions.

The upper ends of the arms of opposite bellows are connected by coil springs 8 which are placed under suiicient tension to hold the ends of the pitmen 6 firmly against their respective `iournal bearings on the shaft 4- against lost motion, thereby reducing the liability of rattle or excessive noise from this source.

The shaft 5- extends forwardly and rearwardly and is provided at its front end with a relatively large pulley 9- which is connected by a belt l0 to a relatively small pulley ll on the corresponding end of the motor 3 thus permitting the several bellows to be operated with considerable power through the medium of a relatively small motor. i

The motor is, of course, driven at high speed and under ordinary conditions of installation within and upon a portion of the instrument case would cause more or less vibration of the various parts of the case, and consequent noise, but in order to overcome this the feet of the motor are secured to a plate 12- of wood or other suitable material, said plate being preferably rectangular in top plan and in turn rests upon a non-vibratory pad 13 preferably 'of soft or sponge rubber or may be of felt or equivalent substance.

The pad is surrounded and held in place by a marginal frame 14. also of wood or other suitable material, which together with the pad may rest atwise upon a horizontal shelf -aforming a-,part of the lower portion of the instrument case, the pad -13- being of slightly greater surface area than that ofthe plate-12- so as to support said plate and motor independently of the frame -14-, the latter being secured' to the shelf -aby suitable fastening;

means, as .-15-.

Thesup-porting plate-12e for the.. motor -3- rests loosely upon the. upper surface of the pad 13.* andi isY held against lateral or endwise displacement by a band or strap -16- having one end. securedl betweenz one sideof the frame. TlL-f. and` shelf wrat one side of the. motor, and itsA other end passed around the upper side of the. motor to the opposite sidethe-reof where it is provided, with a loop 17'k for receiving a removable retaining.- memben 1S- This retaining member preferably consists of a round bar extending forwardly and rearwardly through and beyond. the opposite edges of the loop 117- and substantially parallel with thez axis. of the motor, the upper faces of its opposite ends being flattenedv to form bearings for theheads of suitable fasteningT means, as. screws -l .9.-, which are screwed intothe adjacent side of the frame. -14

The rear end of the strapfretaining bar -18- is bifurcated or slotted to permit it to be` placed endwise underA the` head of the adjacent screw -19 and lwithdrawn therefrom in securing and releasing the motor-retaining strap or band 1G- The other screw 19,- at the front end of thebar *18* is passed through an opening therein, so that in order to remove the motor, it is only necessary to. remove. the screw -19- on the front end. of the retaining bar, whereupon the latter may be with.- drawn forwardly from the loop -l7-., thus permitting the latter to-be drawn toone,y side to permit the removal of the motor, thisoperation being reversed inA placingthe motor upon. the pad -1-3.

The. strap or band -16- is preferably made of canvas or other strong andy durable material of approximately the same width as the periphery of the cylindrical periphery of-jthe motor case and maybe tightened when necessaryby simply tightening theL screws +19-, under which conditions the.` pad -13- willl yield slightly, thusv reducing constant tension upon they strap to-` firmly hold the motor. in` placeV without liability of 'transmitting its vibrations `to any part; of: the

instrument to such an extent astoproduce appreciable. noise.v

The front and rear edges of thewindchest -1- are pivotally mounted near their lower ends upon adjacent supporting brackets -.-20--4 and -21-, whichin turn are secured by screws -22 or other suitable fastening means to the upper surface of the shelf -a, thus permitting the entire wind chest, together with the bellows mounted thereon to, rock` laterally toward and from the motor, the object ofwhich is to permit the belt to be tightened or loosened in a manner hereinafter described, and also to permit theentire, wind chest and bellows to be rocked downwardly on to the shelf, as shown Iby dotted lines. in. Fig. l, where it may restl while the front bracket 20e is bergfremored; case. it is necessary t0- take, out-this portion, of thewind-inducing device independently of. themotor.

Thefrent bracket 72,0@ is provided with anupward'A extension. haring. V- shaped groove. its sideA opposite the meter fOr-receiving the tapered andA 0f an adjusting-Screw #25# which; smountedin a bracket or bearing 26- on` the front edge 0f: the, wird Chet. fl-1 the Purpose oli whoh is; tov tighten thebelt when necessary 'by simply adj ,ustingfthgel screw so as: to engage in the Vi-shaped. groove -24.;. that is, thisadj'11s/tingA screw istlocated some distance aborethe coi-axial pivots, as-.fZ-f, which. supportl the wind-chest *l* soik that when engaged in, the; adj acent-groove -241-, it will held.; the.; wind chest against undue rokng movement toward the motor, While the belt ser-vesto hold the. wind. chest against rockin-g moyement; in the oppositey direction or; away from the m0tor. except as. adjusted by the screw 26- in tightening thev belt.

Each bellows.A 72T. is, connected by ports .-28#` with the interiorof the wind chest alf-,1 while. its` movable` side is.i adapted to communicate. with. the atmospherethrough ponts` 29%, theI ports T28?. being' provided; with` cheCkvalyes. to permit the` passage of.: ain from the wind chest to the bellows and; prevent: its passage. in?. a reverse: direction, and. are preferably arranged against the inner iwall of the fixed sideof the bellowssox, asrto. open. into, such bellows.

The ports` 729-1 are alsolprovided with check valves. 7Bf-f. topermitf the. escape ofair from; the;V correspondingt bellows to the.A atmosphere as: such. bellowsf is collapsed and' to. preventrentrance: of.v atmospheric air when the bellows is, distendedgf said valves -31- being located, inthistinstance, on the.` exterior of theimovafble; side.-

I-t is now clear-:that during` theopenation of the several bellowsvbyftheymoton, theairis caused to flow more or lessrapidly through the wind: chest andi ports, which under ordinary conditionsproducesmore on lessobjectionable whistling, noise, and in. order to overcome this the oppositefends of theports 28- and` also the? outer ends. of ports 29- are. covered: by layers. 732-.- .of felt or equivalent air-pervious material` adheincidental thereto.

In order that the air may have a free circulation through the wind chest, the felt A layers -32- across the adjacent or inner ends of the ports -28- are held in spaced relation by a parting plate -33- of wood or equivalent material having a series of parallel lengthwise grooves 3A- in opposite faces thereof so that the intervening ribs will hold the felt against entering the grooves, thereby maintaining -a relatlvely large number of vertical air passages through which the air in the wind chest may freely circulate.

It will be noted that the resilient supporting pad l-lfor the motor not only serves to prevent the transmission of vibrations from the motor to the instrument case, but also to the remaining parts of the wind inducing device, such as the wind chest -1- and bellows -2-, and furthermore relieves the belt from excessive strains by reason of the fact that it is free to yield under varying loads applied to the pulling side of such belt.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the motor or the wind chest, together with its pumping bellows, may be easily and quickly removed independently of each other by simply removing the front screw of the bar 18 and the front bracket 20-- without disturbing the rear Copies of this patent may be obtained for screw -18- or rear bracket -21-, thus permitting the motor and wind chest to be reinstalled after removal with the assurance that they will be in proper relative position.

A slight tightening of the belt may be eii'ected by the tightening of the screws -19- by which the motor will be drawn down on its resilient supporting pad, but the major tightening of the belt may be effected by tightening the adjusting screw What I claim is: 1. In a wind-inducing device for selfplaying musical instruments, the combination of a wind chest and a pumping bellows communicating therewith through suitable ports, an air-pervious covering for said ports within the wind chest, and a grooved supporting plate for the covering having its grooves adjacent thereto to allow the air to circulate therethrough.

2. In a wind-inducing device for selfplaying musical instruments, the combination of a wind chest, pumping bellows secured to opposite faces of the wind chest and communicating therewith through suitable ports, air-pervious coverings for said ports within the wind chest, and a rigid plate interposed between said coverings and provided with grooves adjacentthe coverings for the circulation of air therethrough.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 11th day of Februar 1916. LEWIS B. D MAN.

Witnesses:

ANNA H. MIILER, y h

MARGARET M. BROWN.

ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patenti,

Wllhilton, D. C." 

